On October 13, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched a spacecraft to the asteroid Psyche.
This is the largest known metallic asteroid in the Solar System, believed to be the remnants of a core from a primordial planet, providing insights into the formation of Earth.
The SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launched NASA’s PSYCHE satellite from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Photo source: upi.com).
The Falcon Heavy rocket from SpaceX carried the Psyche spacecraft, which was launched at 10:19 AM local time (21:19 PM Vietnam time) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. Subsequently, the first and second stages of the Falcon rocket separated, returned to Earth, and successfully landed at the SpaceX landing site at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, near the Kennedy Space Center.
The NASA spacecraft is expected to travel a distance of 3.5 billion kilometers and take about six years to reach the asteroid Psyche. If all goes as planned, this truck-sized craft will land on the asteroid by late July 2029 and begin its key mission in August of the same year. According to NASA, the spacecraft will spend approximately two years orbiting Psyche to capture images, map its surface, and collect data to determine the composition of the asteroid.
In addition to its mission to explore the metallic asteroid, the spacecraft also aims to test a new laser communication technology from NASA called “Deep Space Optical Communication.” This new technology is expected to transmit data and images at least 10 times faster than existing conventional systems.
Psyche was discovered in 1852 and is located between Mars and Jupiter. With a diameter of 279 kilometers at its widest point, this potato-shaped asteroid is one of the largest known in the Solar System. Initial observations suggest that its composition may include gold, iron, nickel, and various other metals, with an estimated value of 10 trillion USD. However, NASA emphasizes that the research mission is not related to the mining of metals in space. The purpose of this mission is to understand the formation of Earth and other rocky planets with molten metal cores.
This marks NASA’s first scientific research spacecraft launched by SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket.
